Friday, March 18, 2016

Fenced In For Good

A fence is
two sided; inside and outside. Often
inside is safe, shielding from outside forces.
The house I grew up in had a backyard surrounded by brick fence and
along that a green hedge. Sam the
Samoyed, furry and large, would lean into the hedge and walk the circumference
of the yard; the hedge supporting and brushing his hair all at once. Thus the green hedge had a white fur-line at
dog height all year long. The inside of
horse stalls and rodeo corrals are lined with horse hair and bull shreds too.

At rodeo
the young cowboys sit in a row atop the fence their shirts a quilt of
color. Apart from them the older cowboys
lean, sideways near the gate maybe or with butt and backs resting on rung. The fence supports while inside bulls kick
and horses paw.

Today when
we think fence we think of aliens clawing out of their countries and trying to
get into ours. We throw up our hands and
build up a wall because it will keep us safe, secure our resources and protect
our children. Because it worked so well at
Babylon and
Siloam---trusting in man-made towers and barricades.

God has set
fences in our lives; visible and invisible.
Like the cowboy we can lean against them. In leaning we say to our bodies; you can
rest—no need to run right now. We are
safely hedged in; even when it looks like the bulls have stormed the
gates! We lean like Sam the
Samoyed. So too we are hedged in. Psalm
16 says, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely
I have a delightful inheritance,” and in the Message it reads, “You set me up
with a house and yard, and then you made me your heir!”

Cowboys
trust fence and gate (until the chute is opened). Though we may say with the Psalmist, “Many bulls have
surrounded me; strong bulls of Bashan have
encircled me,” we need not fear. The
boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places.
We are playing in our Fathers yard.